Northern Virginia Lawyer

Monday, June 16, 2014

Paul A. Prados has been selected to the 2014 Virginia Rising
Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are
selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor.

Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, is a rating
service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have
attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The
annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide
survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer
reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse
listing of exceptional attorneys.

The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super
Lawyers Magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers
across the country. Super Lawyers Magazines also feature editorial profiles of
attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about
Super Lawyers, visit SuperLawyers.com.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Every election, philosophical libertarians are faced with a
conundrum: should we vote for principle/stay home or vote for the lesser of two
evils.Democrats tend to be better on
personal liberty issues and Republicans tend to be better on economic liberty
issues.Occasionally you find the odd
“moderate” that seems to be bad on both sets of issues.At least then we have something to vote
against.

I am supporting Ken Cuccinelli for Governor in 2013.I found this decision easy, but my hope is
that philosophical libertarians will take a strong look at Cuccinelli.

The source

I worked for Ken Cuccinelli as an attorney for the first
four years of my career up until he took office as Attorney General.During that time I was exposed to many
aspects of his life: his law career, political actions, and his family.I have had uncountable private conversations
with Cuccinelli about his beliefs and actions.

What follows is my take on his beliefs vis-a-vis
libertarianism.Unless I attribute the
statement directly to him, it is merely my understanding.I will point out a few tidbits that he has
not hidden, but are not known in a widespread fashion.

Principled stand on
the Second Amendment

Most people know that Ken Cuccinelli is a strong supporter
of the Second Amendment.What most
people do not know is that support for gun control polled well above 50% in his
Senate district, and he knew it was the case.In three elections there he did not waiver in his support of the Second
Amendment despite knowing it was a dangerous position to take politically.He was repeatedly elected on principle and
stuck to those principles.Libertarians
tend to worry that Democrats and Republicans will abandon their libertarian
leaning principles upon election.Cuccinelli does not.

Opponent of the
overreach of police powers

Whether it is search and seizure, the rights of the accused,
or dare I say, the death penalty, Cuccinelli repeatedly falls on the side civil
liberties.Cuccinelli was constantly
seeking to reduce the ability of localities to spy on citizens, whether it be
through warrantless searches or traffic cameras.He supported restoration of voting rights to
released felons.He knows all too well
that our criminal justice system, despite its general effectiveness and a great
many honorable public servants, sometimes falls short of doing justice.Cuccinelli personally took up the cause of
the 27 year wrongfully imprisoned Thomas Haynesworth.To the press and to casual observers this
appeared to be an aberration.To those
of us who knew Cuccinelli, none of this surprised us.This is one of the reasons why Cuccinelli has
such a dedicated base of followers.

Defender of the First
Amendment

Ken Cuccinelli was lead counsel on a major case seeking to
invalidate a law passed by the General Assembly that restricted the free
association of political parties.This
lawsuit originally entitled Miller v.
Brown, successfully invalidated a restriction on how political parties can
nominate candidates.

Cuccinelli’s
religious beliefs

Cuccinelli takes a lot of flak for his stances on abortion
and gay marriage.Cuccinelli believes
that life begins at conception and deserves protection in the womb.He does not want to prevent access to
contraception, but he does not consider abortion, chemical or surgical, to be “contraception.”This is identical to the position of Ron
Paul, a supporter of Cuccinelli.Ron Paul
reached his conclusions, in part, from being a practicing obstetrician.Cuccinelli does not take this position
lightly.

Cuccinelli is opposed to state sponsored gay marriage.He does not believe in “criminalizing blow jobs.”
It would take 500-1000 words, perhaps more, to explain the appeal of the ruling
invalidating Virginia’s anti sodomy law.In short, the Attorney General’s brief submitted to the 4th Circuit en banc, and the Supreme Court both
fully acknowledged in writing that the law cannot constitutionally ban sexual
activity between consenting adults.It
is my strong belief that the tide of public opinion and the court system will
overtake his positions in the next 5-10 years.

If your feelings on one or both of these issues control your
vote, please vote your conscience, just please remember not to let the perfect
be the enemy of the good.

The final take

Cuccinelli, in the end, believes that the greatest minority
is the individual and the protection of individual liberties is the primary
purpose of government.Civil liberties,
economic liberties, and constitutional freedom are the baseline for
Cuccinelli.In the end, Cuccinelli is
the strongest pro-liberty candidate to run statewide in Virginia with a
reasonable chance of winning in modern history. He is not the lesser of two evils, he is a
good that is worthy of your consideration.

Please get out and vote on Tuesday November 5, and no matter
your take on Cuccinelli I look forward to working with all liberty minded
individuals in the future.

Friday, September 6, 2013

The
first Virginia case after the landmark U.S.
v. Windsorruling on gay marriage has undergone some recent changes
that will truly push the matter to the forefront immediately before November's
elections.

A New Complaint

Bostic & London have filed an Amended
Complaint adding two additional plaintiffs, Carol Schall and Mary Townley.Taking a cue from the ACLU case, they added Janet
Rainey, the State Registrar of Vital Records, as a Defendant.

What happened to
Cuccinelli?

Gov. McDonnell and AG Cuccinelli have been voluntarily
dismissed as Defendants.In these types
of cases, you have to figure out the correct state actors to sue.It is not always obvious which actors a court
expects to be listed as a defendant.This probably looks like a good thing for Cuccinelli as he is no longer
listed as a defendant, it may appear to have less effect on him before the
election.But, the Commonwealth has
intervened in the case as an "interested party." This means that AG Cuccinelli's office will
still be submitting briefs and taking stances before the election.Cuccinelli will have to defend these actions.

The ACLU case does
not appear to be moving to the forefront

The ACLU of Virginia finally got around to filing a class
action lawsuit challenging Virginia's
ban on same-sex marriage.The opposing
parties have filed motions to dismiss, and the ACLU has filed a motion to certify
all members as a class.This lawsuit was
filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia which is reasonably
fast, but not known for the haste in which the Eastern District proceeds.

None of the motions have been scheduled for a hearing, and
given the tremendous effort it takes to obtain a class action certification,
any public fight in this case in the next two months will likely center on this
boring procedural step, which will have substantially less political effect on
the Governor's race.

With all these delays
will this case still have any effect on the election?

This is where the Bostic case gets interesting.The parties submitted
an agreed order setting response schedules for the amended complaint and a
briefing schedule for summary judgment motions.Summary judgment is the means by which this case will be adjudicated in
total.It is the equivalent of a trial
in this matter.

Here is the schedule:

Initial summary judgment motions from all parties are due
September 30, 2013.

Response briefs are due October 24, 2013.

Final reply briefs are due October 31, 2013.

The election is November 5, 2013

AG Cuccinelli's office, on behalf of the Commonwealth will
have to file major briefs 36 days, 12 days, and 5 days before the gubernatorial
election.October is the most critical
time of the election season.Cuccinelli
will be held accountable for every word in these briefs.

This makes it easy to stand by my
initial prediction that this will have a substantial negative impact on
Cuccinelli.

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*Disclaimers: This website is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this website should be regarded as establishing an attorney-client relationship. Nothing in this website should be regarded as soliciting for employment in jurisdictions to which Paul A. Prados is not admitted. Past outcomes are dependent on the particular facts and circumstances of each matter and do not predict future results, and each new matter will be dependent on the facts or merits of the particular matter. There is no procedure in the Commonwealth of Virginia for approving certifying organizations or establishing any specialties listed herein.